Ann Arbor tends to be the most progressive outlier in Michigan politics. The Democrats who run Ann Arbor are fully aware of this, and their hope for the midterms is to get their message to appeal to a majority of voters statewide. Republicans, however, are working to paint progressive democrats as extreme as they defend an increasingly unpopular president.
“I've always believed that Ann Arbor is uniquely positioned in the state to be a leader sometimes, we feel like we're an island surrounded by, you know, the rest of the county, the rest of the state,” said Yousef Rabhi, who won the Democratic primary in the race to be Mayor of Ann Arbor. “And, you know, we think of our highway boundary almost as like a moat or a wall. And I really, you know, one of the things I really want to try to do as mayor of Ann Arbor is to break that down.”
Rabhi is a democratic socialist who beat Ann Arbor’s incumbent Mayor Chris Taylor. He’s part of an emerging generation of democratic socialists and progressives challenging their party’s establishment base. And those new progressive Democrats are increasingly finding success in communities outside of Ann Arbor.
In Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District, which includes Lansing, progressive William Lawrence beat moderate candidates to become the Democratic Party challenger to Republican Representative Tom Barrett. In the Michigan US Senate Democratic primary race, progressive Abdul El-Sayed beat the more centrist Haley Stevens. The question for Democrats is whether progressives can make their politics work in a purple state like Michigan, famous for its razor thin margins?
Washtenaw County GOP Chair Jason Rogers doesn’t think so. He is campaigning for the District 15 seat in the Michigan State Senate against Democrat Felicia Brabec.
“Republicans remain the real big-tent party for those left behind by the Democrats’ radical turn,” said Rogers.
The Democratic Socialists of America support policies like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Recent polls show there is a growing population of voters who like those policies.
Pew Research found that about a third of American Democrats like candidates who self-identify as democratic socialists. And a CNBC poll found that almost half of 18-to-34 year olds see democratic socialism positively. Rabhi says some voters are going for farther left candidates because those candidates have a clear vision for a better future.
“What we're seeing right now is a moment in the Democratic Party where you know, folks are demanding better from their leaders, from the people that have been in office, you know, for a long time,” Rabhi said. “And I think that what I'm hearing time and time again is that people want solutions. They want bold leadership.”
Christopher Taylor has been Ann Arbor’s mayor for more than a decade. He disagrees that there is a major shift in the Democratic electorate, and says he lost because of a variety of factors.
“Certainly elements within the Democratic Party are increasingly sensitive to corporate power, but that's always been a constituency,” Taylor said
Moderate Democrats worry that candidates like Rabhi can’t win elections against the GOP statewide because their policies seem too extreme to most Americans. That’s not a problem for Rabhi himself, who almost certainly will win the November election in Ann Arbor.
But other progressive candidates face constant questions about electability. El-Sayed has said that he does not identify as a socialist. Taylor declined to comment on races outside of Ann Arbor, but expects that the GOP will continue to define socialism as an un-American threat.
“The Republican Party's electoral strategy is based on fear tactics and misrepresentation, and I expect that to be in full force come November,” Taylor said.
Rogers says these progressive candidates are extreme and they are a threat to the American republic. But Rabhi argues that policies like the ones he and El-Sayed support aren’t extreme. He says they’re American values in the tradition of FDR’s New Deal, and actually very basic necessities.
That sounds different from his earlier argument that voters want someone with a bold vision. But Rabhi says in this political climate, advocating for affordability and against corporate interests has become bold.
“Frankly, I think that message resonates whether you're a Democrat, or Independent, or a Republican. And that's why I think that these candidates can and will win come November,” Rabhi said.
Polling in the US Senate Race remains tight, but one MSU poll shows El-Sayed five points ahead of Republican nominee of Mike Rogers. According to another average of five polls done by 270ToWin, an election poll tracker website, El-Sayed is currently leading Rogers by an average of five points.
Rabhi plans to campaign for other Democratic candidates between before the general election in November. It’s one way he feels he can break down that wall between Ann Arbor and the rest of the state.
“This election isn't just about supporting, you know, the progressive candidates that won their primaries, but it's also supporting, you know, the whole Democratic slate. We have a broad and diverse slate of candidates who are running," he said.
